IN response to Environment Minister Dick Roche’s
article on incineration (Jan 5), may I ask for some sympathy for people
who find themselves in the path of a public policy which only provokes
greater concern with every attempted explanation.

In the efforts to deal with our waste crisis
we cannot leave the door open to inappropriate solutions promising
quick results. If our leaders cannot aspire to zero waste, they have
no credibility when it comes to responsible waste management.

We do not have to depend on landfill for a huge
proportion of our waste for decades to come. We must implement prevention
policies for sustainable waste management and not condemn our children
to quick-fix incineration.

Please do not build a monopoly waste industry
in anyone’s backyard, no matter what pressures are imposed by
industry which appears to be paying least at the moment for managing
their own waste. The taxpayer should not become hostage to the private
sector’s need for profit.

A policy that appears to ignore people’s
fears for their health arising from a toxic industry that has been
sited among them for purely economic reasons provokes anger and resistance.